More good karma: a new Care2 click to donate site, this one sponsoring needy children. Please take a moment to click, bookmark, and click again every day. You can sign up, too, and track how much you've helped. It costs you nothing but a few seconds each day.posted by Dub at 4:18 AM

A foot and a half or so of snow here this past weekend. Two days ago I finally dug us out so that Kate could go to work. My car is still covered, but I may clear it off today (and the snow will melt a lot today anyway.) The shoveling was hard work, the hardest shoveling I've ever had to do (not that I have all that much experience.) And yet, oddly, I found myself feeling a lot of gratitude.

To wit: my knees, back and wrists hurt (all of the places I know to have pre-existing problems.) And yet, I was thankful that I am healthy enough to shovel at all. Other people are in a lot worse condition than I am but still have to shovel out.

The neighbor has a snowblower, and you can clearly see the exact spot where his part of the sidewalk ends and ours begins, as that is the border between the clear sidewalk and the foot and a half of snow. A few times in the past he did our sidewalk too, but not this time. But it's okay. In general we have a good relationship with the neighbors. We could certainly have much worse neighbors (and used to in another place where we lived before.)

The other neighbor's teenage sons pulled up as I was about three-quarters of the way done. They asked if I needed help. By that time, although tired, I felt determined to get it done, so I said I was okay, but thanks. Their mother gets frustrated with them, and they play loud music, but really, they are good guys, always polite and friendly to us. How many teenagers would offer to help unbidden like that? Never mind teenagers--how many people at all? (No one else who happened by did.) I am thankful.

The woman across the street greeted me before she left and reminded me to take it easy. I said I would, and I did. Breathe. Don't over-exert. Two people in the RI area died of apparent heart attacks induced by shoveling. There but for the grace of God. I am thankful again for my health, and also for more people (like my neighbor) becoming aware of the dangers.

We weren't prepared for the storm. Friday night, we ordered pizza. I'm thankful Papa John's delivers to our house now. Saturday, Kate actually went out to the store and bought us soda, pads and cat food. She said it was the stupidest thing she ever did. I said she was my hero. The least I could do was dig her car out after it snowed even more after that.

So this attitude of gratitude (not to sound like some evangelist) persists for me. I grieve Spot's death but am in awe at having saved another cat. I hate the governor but am so thankful for the mass of fair-minded people of this state, compared to so many other places. I'm estranged from my friend, but I remember what she said in the dream and have some reassurance. I fear the state of the world, but I can help make it better, and I have options. Idiots who can't read break rules on my list, but others thank me for my efforts. Those of you who know me know that I'm far from a Polyanna and am more apt to dwell on the negative. But somehow that shoveling experience just made me think this way. So I'll go with it for now.

A few months back, Mark Morford's "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod" link was With You Always. That's good enough to blog by itself, but then someone decided that the "guitarist" image just begged to be Photoshopped. Herewith the brilliant result. Meanwhile, you can only find the weekly "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod" link in Mark's email newsletter, not his web column, so that's yet another reason for you to subscribe. (No, he doesn't pay me for this, and his newsletter is free.)posted by Dub at 7:39 AM